My message this week is inspired by events in the Staff Common Room. There was great excitement early on Tuesday morning as two large loaves of homemade bread had appeared in honour of Mrs Watson’s birthday. The room became busier than usual for that time of the morning, and I observed lots of different staff chatting as they made their way closer to the bread knife and the butter. There were Pre-Prep teachers, bus drivers, Heads of Department, office staff, Games coaches, our caretakers, Form Tutors, the gap year students, and members of our Senior Management Team. This reminded me that what truly unites us as human beings is breaking bread together.
This is a special time of year, with festivals for all three of the Abrahamic faiths. We are recently returned from the Easter holidays, Eid was celebrated in our first week back, and now it is my turn to give my best wishes to all those in our community celebrating Passover. Breaking bread with family and friends on these occasions brings together a quarter of the world’s population. Despite the differences in the events they celebrate, and the beliefs behind them, Passover, Easter, and Eid all place importance upon time spent with family around a table, and remembering those less fortunate. We can all agree that these are important values for everyone. To take an example from a different religion, the food given to guests at a Sikh gurdwara is always vegetarian, so guests of any faith or none can sit down and eat together, regardless of different dietary laws. By breaking bread with others, especially those we perceive as “different” to ourselves, we can break down the barriers that cause so much harm in our world.
Another great force for bringing people together is Art. The Mona Lisa hangs on a gallery wall being admired in dozens of different languages each day, by people who don’t understand each other but share a love for the creativity and skill it displays. This brings me on rather neatly to the Leonardo Competition! I am delighted with the way our children have responded to this new event in our calendar.
Ms Elizabeth Lyle, Head